Orochimaru's Mistake: Naruto the strong
by buterflypuss
Summary: What if Orochimaru kidnaps Naruto shortly after he's born and puts him into a bloodline experiment program? What if, in an attempt to make a perfect soldier and future body with a near indestructible body, amazing sensory abilities, and mastery over all five elements he manages to give Naruto 7 different bloodlines? Longer summary in first chapter.
1. Chapter 1-Prologue-Found

Edited 01/19/2014

Summary: What if Orochimaru kidnaps Naruto shortly after he's born and puts him into a bloodline experiment program? What if, in an attempt to make a perfect soldier and future body with a near indestructible body, amazing sensory abilities, and mastery over all five elements he manages to give Naruto the **Mamagen** (Ranmaru's Dojutsu If you don't know what that is, look it up), **Shikotsumyaku** (dead bone pulse, if you don't know what it is look up Kaguya), **Jinton** (incomparable speed), **Hyoton** (water and wind to make ice), **Yoton** (earth and fire to create lava), **Mokuton** (earth and water to make plants grow [yes I know that repeats, and doesn't give a new element, but there's a reason for it, mostly so that I have an excuse to introduce Yamato to the story]), and finally the **Ranton** (lightning and water to make energy beams), and succeeds, he has men train and teach Naruto everything he can about not just his bloodline limits but also Nin-, Tai-, Buki- (weapon), Gen-, Fuin-, Chakra Flow (look it up), Bunshin-, Kin-, Iryō (medic), and Shuriken- jutus (not in that order). He also has him taught tactics, logic, history, stealth, and many other things, all before he turns nine and all in preparation for him to eventually leave the labs and being experimented on behind and become what Orochimaru wants him to become. But before that happens and shortly after Naruto's ninth birthday Sarutobi and a group of Anbu raid the lab Naruto's in and saves him and several other people, how will Naruto fare in Konoha after all those years of abuse in the lab, read and find out.

**(A/N Before you think that I'm upping the time when Orochimaru is discovered and chased out of the village, know that I'm not, that this is simply a raid on one of his many labs, he has already been discovered and chased out like in the original timeline. And if anyone has suggestions for a better title, please recommend it. So yah, some of you will probably be able to tell this is my first fan-fic ever, but it IS NOT my first time ever writing, I have actually written three original short stories of my own, but have not yet built up the nerve to put them online, so I'm new to writing fan-fics, not writing in general.)**

**Disclaimers- I do not own Naruto, if I did Naruto wouldn't be an idiot, Sasuke would have died at the valley of the end, and Orochi-teme would have his head shoved up his ass while still alive by use of his stretchy neck (right where it belongs) so hard he'd have a hard time getting it out, I do own my OC's though **

**Prologue- Found**

**Oct 16, 710 10:30pm (A/N This is a completely made up year as I don't know the Naruto-verses timeline, if you guys do, then feel free to tell me.)**

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime (third) Hokage of Konoha, was absolutely disgusted by what he had seen so far today. Just one hour ago he and two contingents of Anbu began a raid of what was supposedly an illegal lab of one of his former students, Orochimaru of the Sanin, supposedly because the info had been given to him by Danzo, who he no longer fully trusted. At first he hadn't wanted to believe that his former student was once again doing something as atrocious as kidnapping civilians of Konoha and experimenting on them, but just the first ten minutes of searching through this hellhole called a lab was enough to ruin those hopes.

So far they had seen people tortured, mutilated, and experimented on in the most horrible ways. Some have been cut to pieces on lab tables, obviously having been dissected for reasons they have not yet looked into, others were still alive but were mangled beyond recognition and either pleaded for the release death would give them or were so mentally unstable they had to be killed for their own good and for the safety of others. So far the only living and sane people they'd run across had been the "doctors" and lab workers who did the research in the lab (if you could call people who willingly experimented on others sane) and they had been either captured or killed depending on their threat level. They had also seen body parts of both people and animals floating in jars, torture devices running with both fresh and dried blood, and mutilated, dead animals.

There was no way Hiruzen could or would justify the horrors and atrocities committed here by the hand and direction of his former student, he couldn't believe how far down the dark path Orochimaru had walked, and admittedly some small part of him still didn't want to. He stopped in front of yet another cell door and picked up the folder sitting in front of it, he had quickly learned to read whatever notes there were in front of each person's (experiments/prisoners) door in order to get and understanding of their mental stability. To his surprise there were two folders this time, which meant two subjects in the same room? Hopefully that also meant they were stable enough to be saved, since unfortunately they hadn't found anyone like that yet. Opening the first file he was shocked to see that this subject's file was written mostly by Orochimaru's hand himself rather than one of his people's. The file was simply titled Subject #23, with the dates stating when something was done to him and what was done; he began to read it aloud for the benefit of the Anbu with him.

**Oct 12, 701**

_ Subject injected with _**Shikotsumyaku** _bloodline limit I obtained from a two year old, the first to show signs of this rare bloodline limit in years, I wanted to kidnap the child but he was too well guarded and I barely managed to obtain his genes, I will keep an eye on him just in case though. If subject survives then when it combines with the regenerative abilities and high stamina levels of the _**Uzumaki** _bloodline subject naturally has he will have a near indestructible body. All I can do now is wait and see if said regenerative powers are enough to keep the subject alive through the process. _

**Oct 16, 701**

_Subject shows signs of skeletal pain and muscles tears, but the damage recovers almost as soon as it appears, then repeats, causing subject extreme pain and distress, his regenerative abilities are even more astounding than I thought._

**Oct 24, 701**

_ Subject has finally completely stabilized and already shows signs of the experiment having been a success in the fact that subjects skin has paled to the point of almost being bone white, a common trait in people bearing this bloodline. Will be given 3 days to fully recover and will then be injected with _**Jinton** _bloodline obtained by capturing a user of this bloodline, I originally planned on killing him after obtaining his genes, but I have now decided to keep him if subject survives. I will force him to train #23 when he is old enough after telling him exactly how the boy came about having this bloodline, the hotheadedness he has shown since his capture so far will most likely cause him to have an amusing reaction to this news._

**Nov 09, 701**

_Subject continues to have random and painful muscle spasms and slight retinal problems despite it being nearly two weeks since injected with bloodline, but other than that no problems worth mentioning._

**Nov 11, 701**

_Subject seems to be having no more problems, whether this one was a success or not will have to wait until subject is old enough to begin training, so either three or four years of age. Subject will now be injected with _**Hyoton** _bloodline obtained by capturing a Yuki, once again I will keep her only if subject survives and she will be forced to train him after telling her exactly how he came about having this bloodline, her expression will most likely be most pleasing._

**Nov 17, 701**

_Subject has now had fever-like signs for 4 days in a row, he is displaying all signs of fever yet his skin is cool, almost cold to the touch, it is unknown if subject will survive this without permanent damage even with his extreme regenerative abilities. _

**Nov 30, 701**

_Subject has finally fully recovered from chronic problems, luckily with no permanent damage. Shows no physical sign of having developed bloodline unlike when given the Kaguya bloodline, but doctors sometimes find liquids frosted over slightly while around subject so it is most likely a success. Will now be injected with _**Yoton** _bloodline, I was unable to capture the person I got the genes from but I have many scrolls on the bloodline so #23 will just have to learn it on his own._

**Dec 10, 701 **

_Subject shows signs of extreme fever with skin so hot it almost burns when touched; he has also lost all hair and is coughing as though he has lung troubles, definitely the most violent reaction to an introduced bloodline yet, it will be most annoying is he dies now after all the recourses I have already put into him, but that's where all the signs are leading._

**Jan 5, 702**

_Subject has thankfully fully recovered from all signs of illness, including his hair growing back, though even I was surprised when it grew back not as just the bright blond it was originally but is now blond with red mixed in, almost alternating in which hair is which color. This leads me to believe that the experiment was a success since the girl I got the genes from had red hair. He will now be injected with the _**Mokuton **_bloodline using the Shodaime's genes, hopefully he will do better than the sixty I gave it to all those years ago that all died. _

At that part one of the Anbu present, a male with the mask of a cat with markings, twitched slightly. **(A/N If you know who that is already, good on you.)**

**Jan 15, 702**

_ Subject is showing no signs whatsoever of negative or positive reactions to this gene; is his body rejecting it or does being a distant cousin of the Senju clan make it easier for him to gain this bloodline? I will have different plants set up around him and see if there is any kind of change to or reaction from the plants as I make #23 go through different positive and negative emotions._

**Jan 16, 702**

_Success, after putting subject through extreme emotional distress the plants began moving as though searching for the source of his distress. I will now inject him with the _**Ranton **_bloodline, giving him bloodlines that allow him control over all five elements, making him an invaluable tool and possible vessel once I perfect __**that jutsu**__. I was unfortunately unable to risk capturing a user of this bloodline as Kumo is very protective of their villages few bloodlines, luckily they are nowhere near as protective of their bloodlines scrolls and I was able to copy down everything related to this bloodline. _

**Jan 31, 703**

_Subject has fully recovered from all problems caused by developing this bloodline, once again with no physical changes, I will have to wait and see whether he has developed this bloodline or not. This will most likely be the last bloodline I give him seeing as he now has a strong body and control over all five elements, all I need to do now is hand him over to the head scientist for the next two or three years before training and education can begin under the tutelage of my two prisoners and various other people._

After that for a year and a half was nothing more than basic checkups of his health and development in another handwriting, most likely by this mentioned head doctor, so Hiruzen decided to skip over those and read only the comments made by Orochimaru himself.

**June 10, 703**

_I noticed in my routine checkup of subject #23 that he has become rebellious and resentful over the regular tests run on him so I terrified him into obedience, and gave orders for my men to do the same to him if he starts acting up again._

**Oct 10, 704**

_Subject is now three years old so I have taught him Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which he is already able to produce 70 of with little strain, in order to make his training faster and easier. I now have people tutoring him in tactics, logic, history, stealth, politics, practical things (how to cook, nutrition, how to clean, reading [obviously], writing, math, __**[A/N stuff you learn in kindergarten through the end of high school]**__) and many other things and he is showing amazing progress, absorbing everything taught to him like a sponge. I will now have him taught how to meditate. When he turns four I will have him taught basic and advanced chakra control along with lessons on human and animal anatomy, basic weapons and physical training on top of everything else he was started being taught at the age of three. The only complaint I have is that subject continues to show signs of extreme rebellion and practically has to be forced or scared into doing or learning anything other than the basic necessities needed to take care of himself._

**Oct 10, 706**

_Subject is now 5 years old and is certifiably a genius, he has reached jonin level in chakra control despite his already high reserves and can hit any target he's told to hit no matter how far or close or weirdly angled with perfect accuracy, and has memorized everything else taught to him. I will now add lessons on and about his bloodline limits, along with the basics of Nin-, Tai-, Buki-, Gen-, Fuin-, Chakra Flow, Bunshin-, Kin-, Iryō (medic), and Shuriken- jutus, as well as lessens and use of basic to advanced elemental manipulation, starting with the five basic elements and then with his sub-elements. To do that I have introduced him to my two prisoners and their reactions were as amusing and pleasing as expected, hopefully from now on threats to his teachers will help encourage him to keep working since I do not want to physically punish him and waste time waiting for him to recover, I will once again leave him to the head doctor to watch in order to check on the progress of my other bases._

**Sept 4, 707**

_The Kaguya I'd been keeping an eye on has now become the last of his people and my loyal servant in the same day. At age nine the child already shows great talent in the use of his bloodline and while I am having him study it further I am at the same time having him teach #23 everything he knows and can do with it, #23 does not seem to like Kimimaro as much as he likes my prisoners, despite the fact they are in the same boat. Kimimaro doesn't seem to like #23 much either, but as long they tolerate each other and Kimimaro teaches him well I do not care._

**Oct 10, 708**

_At just seven years old subject is at least mid-chunin level in everything except genjutsu, which he has no talent in whatsoever, despite his near perfect chakra control. #23 still shows signs of rebellion, but not as openly due to threat to his two teachers, same could be said for the two teachers. When it comes to his bloodline limits he is excelling in _**Shikotsumyaku, Hyoton, **_and _**Jinton **_and is only doing__relatively well in the rest, which is understandable since he has teachers for the first three and only scrolls for the others. _

**Jan 2, 709**

_I have made an amazing discovery! A one year old child that shows signs of having the supposedly extinct Dojutsu _**Mamagen**_, I had planned on taking the child for myself since he was born to some lowly civilians but then learned he had an extremely weak body so I took his genes instead_**, **_and after month of researching it I have not only confirmed the fact he has an unknown Dojutsu but also isolated and eliminated the gene that caused the weak body. _

_The _**Mamagen **_is rumored to be a penetrating vision, disrupting eye-based bloodline limit, with a unique chakra particle extension. The user has the ability to use their vision abilities to penetrate walls and perform genjutsu that can fool even the _**Byakugan**_. This ability does not appear to have the range of the _**Byakugan**_, but it actually has the ability to counter that Hyūga trait. The user's vision also lets them locate and track others by sensing chakra, picking up chakra from long distances, and noticing changes in an individual's chakra. It is also able to sense how many individuals are present. The user's vision has heightened perception and analytical powers not unlike the _**Sharingan**_, meaning they can comprehend any details they see to predict the opponent's next move. One can also see one's life force and even transfer part of one's own life force to another, at the cost of said person's life force. These may all be rumors and speculation but if even part of these rumors are true I must have someone with it, and if I cannot kidnap the child myself I will give it to subject #23 to make him a perfect human being, as the only weaknesses he has now are genjutsu and lack of sensory abilities. I just hope that I do not kill such a valuable resource by giving him another bloodline limit at this age._

**March 01, 709**

_Subject took a little under two months to fully recover from being giving the _**Mamagen; **_though he did have a couple of very near death experiences as his body adapted to the new bloodline. I am already testing all of the rumored abilities except the one about giving__one's own life force as I do not know whether or not it gives all of the person's life force or whether they choose how much life force to give, and I do not wish to lose such a valuable asset for such a useless ability. I also discovered that when one is using this Dojutsu one's eyes glows red, which was not in any of the books, mostly pointless knowledge, but still interesting._

**Oct 10, 709**

_Subject is now 8 years old and has slowed in improvement in all categories, which is understandable since all people are limited in growth until they hit puberty, so until he does I will continue his lessons at the level they are now and have my head scientist see whether we can put #23's genes into unborn animals to change their chakra coils closer to that of a humans._

**Dec 13, 709**

_Subject has made little progress in anything but fuinjutsu, which he seems to be very good at, but continues to be rebellious, I'm guessing my prisoners made that worse by telling him he'd most likely been kidnapped away from a loving home and brought here to be experimented on (which I didn't, since he was an orphan, not that it really matters to me either way) and that they were being held here against their will._

_On another note, the head doctor's progress with trying to put #23's genes into unborn animals has shown no progress. This time we will try dogs and use the sperm of an Inuzuka hound we managed to temporarily separate from its partner and knock out. Hopefully using the genes of an animal that is regularly exposed to and sometimes uses chakra will make the difference we need for success, as this will be the last attempt we make either way. _

**March 21, 710**

_Success! The mother died from a weakened body one week after giving birth to her pups but she did give birth to three healthy (so far) pups, two males and a female. Since his genes are in them and the bitch is dead we gave them to #23 to raise them with more than enough books to study so he knows what to do. He's even already given them names, despite the fact that I personally told him they have a low chance of surviving, foolish boy. He named the female Kimi (noble), one of the males Jun (obedient), and the final one Ryuu (meaning dragon, not the other meaning which is imperial.) They seem to connect on an almost instinctual level; perhaps they smell him in their own scents? I will need to observe this further before deciding. From now on I will keep a separate file for observations on the dogs and their interactions with #23._

Hiruzen paused for a second to look at the other file and say "Well, I guess that means we only have one person in there too save, one human anyway." He then went back to reading the parts of the file written by Orochimaru out loud.

**July 18, 710**

_All three of the pups somehow survived their first four months alive, and already show signs of having different chakra signatures from other hounds, even Inuzuka hounds, if only slightly. My observation about them having some sort of unusual connection with #23 also seems to have be right, but I cannot figure out what it is and the child doesn't explain it well, almost as though he doesn't understand it himself, or is trying to keep it from me, but I think I scared him enough that he wasn't lying to me.  
_

**August 23, 710**

_ Kimimaro has begun to show signs of an unknown, blood related disease. I must personally take him to a more medic friendly base to be cared for, as he is my most loyal servant and is likely to be my first or second vessel after I perfect __**that jutsu. **__I am having the head medic perform a complete blood test on #23 in hopes that he did not get this disease when I gave him Kimimaro's genes. It is at times like these I wish I had a medic at the level of my former teammate Tsunade Senju; I have some who are close, but none who show even the potential of being as good. It will take me at least four months before I return and when I do I better have a positive yes or no about whether or not #23 has the same disease or not, or heads will roll._

All notes after that are once again most likely by the head doctor, the last one mentioning that this mysterious #23 definitely did not have even a chance of contracting the same disease. Putting #23's file down and picking up the pups' he quickly read through what little there was about them himself and once finished said aloud "The pups are stable too, and only show signs of aggression to the head scientist and Orochimaru himself, but at the same time only show loyalty to this #23 and to a lesser extent these mysterious two prisoners."

Hiruzen stepped forward in order to open the door only to be intercepted by one of his Anbu. This particular Anbu had the mask of a dog and gravity defying silver hair that showed despite the fact he was wearing his hood. "Hokage-sama please allow me to enter first since I'm usually good with hounds," Inu said. "Ah Inu, that is most likely a good idea, stable or not one can never be too careful, go ahead." At Hiruzen's words Inu nodded and turned to open the door. He opened it cautiously to make sure no traps were set, and after checking to make sure looked inside just as cautiously. Having not been attacked Inu looked at Hiruzen, who nodded permission to his unvoiced question, and after having received permission turned on the room's lights to see better, despite the fact it would likely wake the room's occupants.

As the Hokage and Anbu filed into the room there was one irritated grunt and three whines from the only bed in the room. Waiting for them to wake up the people who just entered looked around the room, not that there was much to see. The room was basically a prison cell since it was both a bedroom and bathroom in one, and the only furniture aside from the bed, toilet, and sink was a small dresser for clothes and a bookshelf filled with books (and clothes hampers for dirty clothes if you can count those as furniture).

Just as they finished their observation of the room there was movement at the bed, drawing their attention back to it just as a young dog burrowed its way out of the blanket it was buried in, it was soon followed by two more. As soon as all three hounds pulled themselves out, their attention was instantly drawn to the other people in the room, who carried a strong scent of fresh blood, making them growl fiercely at the strangers. Said growling had the room's last occupant popping out of bed so fast he actually threw the pups off it. He quickly and carefully looked around the room searching for the source of his companions' growls, eyes quickly locking on to the large group of people in the room, some of which were covered in blood, and widened in fear.

His were not the only eyes in the room that widened, though not for the same reason as the boy. Having their first good look at the mysterious Subject #23 everyone in the room (save the dogs) looked him over, and were shocked by what they saw. (If you want to know what he dresses like imagine Kimimaro's outfit, then turn the cloth black and switch the rope belt with an orange sash.) Bone white skin, they already expected that, spiky hair that was almost as red as it was blond, check, baby blue eyes that practically popped out of his face due to his pale skin, new, height of about 3ft 6in, tall for is age but not by much, three whisker like marks on his cheeks…"_Wait a minute"….._three whisker-like marks on his cheeks, now where did they remember seeing that before.

They put all of his appearance together, pale skin, not familiar, tall for his age, check, spiky blond and red hair, check, baby blue eyes, check, three whisker-like marks on each cheek, che….it came to them, the boy standing in front of them looking terrified was none other than Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, son of their late Yondaime Hokage, that mysteriously went missing the day after his birth with no trail to follow other than the body of the Anbu who'd been assigned to watch over him found dead slightly outside the Anbu headquarters they'd been keeping him. He also happened to be the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko, leading to rather mixed feelings about his disappearance to say the least.

Yet now, here he was, standing in front of them looking perfectly healthy (if pale)…and also looking terrified out of his mind about having a bunch of people, most of which were wearing masks, some of which covered in blood, standing in his little room that was more like a prison cell.

The first one to break out of his shock and fear induced paralysis was none other than Naruto himself, "Who are you, and what do you want with me," Naruto tried to demand, but it came out sounding like a fearful question instead, despite the fact his hounds had picked themselves up and added their growls at the end of his sentence. The question and growls did have the affect of breaking three of the other groups' members out of their shock, but none replied to it right away as they got caught up in their own thoughts right afterwards.

"_Minato-kun, it seems like I didn't fail you quite as horribly as I thought, though Naruto is probably traumatized from everything that has been done to him in this place, it is still better than being dead or one of Danzo's mindless weapons, I promise I will do my best to help him from now on. I also have to make sure to send a message to Jiraiya telling him he can finally stop his search for the boy,_" were Hiruzen's first thoughts on the matter.

"_Minato-sensei, it seems that miracles do happen, your son, who I thought dead, is alive, although likely traumatized, he's alive, and any other problem can be fixed with time and care, and I promise to dedicate as much of both as I can as a member of Anbu,_" thought one Kakashi Hatake.

"_The boy who apparently has the same ability as me is none other than Yondaime-sama's son __**and**__ the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi! I hope Hokage-sama gives me permission to teach him,_" thought one Tenzo (or Yamato as we all know him.)

"Well," asked the boy again this time with louder growls from his companions. Once again the sound of his voice broke them out of their thoughts and this time one of them did speak, just not what Naruto wanted them to.

"Naruto," Hiruzen asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice and not entirely succeeding.

"How do you know my name, almost nobody knows my name and the only people who actually call me by it are Asahi-ojisan and Yui-obasan," asked the now wary Naruto meanwhile adding "_And of course Kimi, Jun, Ryuu, and Kurama, but nobody needs to know that part other than me," _in his head.

"I'm guessing those two are the prisoners mentioned in Orochimaru's notes?" Getting a nod from Naruto, Hiruzen told him "Well the reason we know your name and call you by it is because we knew you as a baby before you were kidnapped," this news caused Naruto to stiffen.

"So you must be from Konoha than, if you really are then I might be able to trust you, but there's still an issue of why and how you knew me, and what you're going to do with me now that you've found me," Naruto said.

"Well to answer the first to questions I know you because I was friends with your parents before they passed away the day you were born, and as for what we're going to do with you the answer is obvious, we're going to take you back to Konoha of course," Hiruzen said in a calm manner.

"There's a high chance that I won't be welcomed or well received in Konoha though," Naruto said as though stating a fact, causing Hiruzen and the Anbu to stiffen once more.

"So you know about the Kyuubi then," he stated rather than asked.

"Of course I know, even if I hadn't been told as soon as I was old enough to understand it all the near death experiences I've had are more than enough to force me have met him at least once," Naruto said with a snort, causing the group to stiffen even further at what he said.

"You've met it," Hiruzen said, sounding shocked.

"Of course I have, a jinchuuriki usually meets their tenant for the first time in a near death experience, and I've had more than enough of those for it," Naruto once again said with a snort, this time at their reactions.

Snapping out of his shock Hiruzen told him, "I'll be honest with you in the fact that you may have a problem with some of the civilians, but I more than made sure that my forces have a solid understanding of the difference between a kunai and the scroll it's sealed inside, so you should have no problem with them."

"What about Asahi-ojisan, Yui-obasan, Kimi, Jun, and Ryuu," Naruto wanted to make sure the ones he considered his family were with him and treated well as well.

"Of course I'm more than willing to take them in, and even add them to my forces if that's what they want."

"Why on earth is the Hokage himself leading this raid if you don't mind me asking," Naruto asked, having put two and two together from the way Hiuzen was speaking.

"Orochimaru was a student of mine before he began walking down the dark path he now is, and when I had a chance to end him I didn't take it, so I feel personally responsible for the fact that he is doing the things he is," Hiruzen admitted, hoping that showing honesty to the boy would help convince him to trust them.

"Hmm…" was all Naruto said, and after a couple of minutes he decided that the only way he was going to decide whether he trusted them or not was to use his Dojutsu to see from their chakra what emotions they were feeling while talking to them. He noticed them jump a little when he activated it and his eyes started glowing red, but other than a subtle tensing they didn't do anything else, so he started examining them.

Sarutobi's chakra was giving of sensations happiness and excitement, the Dog-masked Anbu's was pretty much the same, and the Tiger-masked Anbu's, while not as strong, were also the same, the other Anbu in the room were neutral, not really feeling any strong emotion toward him one way or another. After determining the emotions of the people in the room and deciding that the Hokage was being completely honest with him he relaxed and turned his Dojutsu off.

The pups, noticing this, relaxed as well. "All right then I'm guessing since you're going door to door that you've already raided the rest of the lab," he asked, getting a nod from Sarutobi, "Well I can tell you right now the only sane ones left in this place are the four of us, Asahi-ojisan, and Yui-obasan. So I might as well guide you straight to their cells and leave you to decide what to do with everyone else." And with that he jumped of his bed and walked up to them.

"I'm guessing that means you've accepted my offer," Hiruzen asked with a raised brow.

"As long as Asahi-ojisan and Yui-obasan accept I'll accept," was all Naruto said in reply before, with the pups at heel, leaving the room and walking a short ways down one of the corridors they had yet to go down before stopping and waiting for them."Are you coming," he asked somewhat impatiently, "We want to get out of this hellhole, and I'm sure Asahi-ojisan and Yui-obasan want that just as much."

At that Sarutobi and the Anbu began following the boy who obviously knew where he was going, they went down three corridors before finally stopping in front of two doors that were side by side. Naruto then went on to knock hard on both doors while calling out "Asahi-ojisan, Yui-obasan, it's Naruto, people from Konoha, including the Hokage himself, raided the lab and are willing to save us. They say we can join Konoha if we want so don't attack, ok!"

There was complete silence after Naruto finished pounding on the doors while they waited for the two to reply. Finally, after what seemed like hours but was really only a few minutes, a reply came from an obviously male voice "Naruto this better not be some kind of trick or you _will_ regret it, you hear me."

"I would never play a trick on either of you, especially not one of this kind, you know that," Naruto said, sounding hurt.

"Forgive him Naruto-kun, it's just that we've both been here for so long rescue sounds more like a dream than a reality," said a soft feminine voice from the other door.

"Yah, kid, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, but it's exactly what Yui said," the male's voice, when not angry, sounded gruff, but soft, an interesting combo, "So are you going to let us out or what?"

Hiruzen looked at Inu and nodded, so Inu walked up to the doors and quickly unlocked both of them. Letting them swing open on silent hinges.

The two people that walked out looked at the group and observed them just as they were being observed. The man was tall, about 6ft 1in, he had brown hair so light it was almost blond, light brown eyes, naturally dark skin (though it was somewhat pale due to being without the sun for so long), all in all a pretty average looking man. The woman, on the other hand, was a beauty, with long dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and distinctly feminine features, _"Though her breasts could be a little bigger," _was the thought of all the men in the room except Asahi (Who was stupid enough to say it rather than think it when he first met her and suffered from minor frostbite in all sorts of places for weeks afterward because of it,) and Naruto, who was too young.

"So it looks like we're saved, so what now," Asahi asked.

"Now, I invite you all to join Konoha as ether ninjas, ninjas in training, or civilians, if you want to," Hiruzen told them.

Asahi and Yui exchanged looks, then both look down at Naruto, who, understanding the silent question, replied "Kimi, Ryuu, Jun, and I go where you guys go….unless you split up, and then I don't know what I'd do," he finished a little sadly.

The two once again exchanged looks, then nodded, having come to a decision, Yui kneeled down next to Naruto and hugged him while saying "Of course we're going to stay together, we're family now, there's no way we'd want to part from you, or each other, even if Asahi and I argue sometimes," she told him in a gentle, compassionate voice, easing his worries away.

Asahi stepped toward Sarutobi and held out his hand saying "None of us has anywhere to go, so if your offering us a home where we can live together and a choice of being ninja or not, we'd be more than happy to accept, on the condition that none of us, including the pups, are ever put under the CRA (Clan Restoration Act, look it up) or try to force us into similar decisions we don't want to make."

Hiruzen smiled warmly at him and said "I can promise that," he reached out and shook the man's hand and added, "If you don't mind waiting here while we finish our raid on the lab, I'll be more than happy to personally escort you to Konoha."

"Of course we don't mind, we've been here for years already, what's an hour or so more of waiting going to do," Asahi said, then admitted "and besides neither Yui nor I know how to get to Konoha, and Naruto, while knowing geography and where it is, has never been outside of this place before, so both he and the pups would probably be a bit too overwhelmed to guide us there."


	2. Chapter 2 - Return

Edited 01/19/2014

**(A/N Ok, wow, I'm shocked by all the positive reviews, followers, and favorites I got, thank you everyone, I'm glad to know I haven't lost my story writing touch just because I switched my genre. **

**I received a comment that I'd like to address directly. The person basically said "Naruto's going to be strong to the point he'll be kicking everyone's ass and that's boring." So yeah, I can see where you and others would be worried about that, so here's my reply, "Naruto will be much stronger than his generation and those around it, but except for his chakra control and fuinjutsu (which he will be good at, especially after he starts learning under Jiraiya) he'll be mid to high chunin levels in everything until later in the story. One, because he hasn't hit puberty yet and that limits his growth and development until he does, and two, because of a severe lack of actual in battle experience. So to those reading this expecting a godlike Naruto right off the bat, I apologize but that won't be till much later in the story, if at all. And once again I'd like to mention that the title to this story can be changed if someone suggests something better, since I don't think it suits my story perfectly. I'm also looking for a cover image, if you guys want to send some you think would work to me I'll pick the one I like the most and put it on, but you'll find a request in the chapter for the one I'd most like to see.)**

**Chapter 2-Return**

The raid of the rest of the lab actually took the rest of the night, between taking care of the rest of the experiments and prisoners (which, sadly, were all too insane or messed up to save), collecting all the files about all the prisoners, including Yui's and Asahi's, and all the experiments, including Naruto's and the pups', and making their way through the security in the cpu's took much longer than originally thought. The only thing they didn't take in that lab were some of the bodies (they burned the ones they didn't recognize and kept the ones they knew were from the village in special storage scrolls so they could be taken back and mourned) and the books and scrolls in Naruto's room, which he personally put into a storage scroll of his own (and then stored the scroll in a storage seal on his sash), saying that they were the only objects of importance he didn't want to lose. The only other thing they did in the lab was that Hiruzen and the Anbu took turns asking the group various questions both about the lab and the people, and also about what they plan on doing and becoming when they went to the village. They were finally ready to leave the lab, walking out into dawns light; they forgot something important that was mentioned earlier until it was too late.

"It's too bright, it hurts my eyes," Naruto shouted in shock and pain the second the morning rays of light hit his face as he left the lab. The pups were also whimpering in shock and pain as they were hit by the rays at almost the same time Naruto was. Even Asahi and Yui were having a bad reaction to it, though to a lesser extent.

_"Not good, if they're having this bad of a reaction to sunlight we will have to go very slow for at least the first half of the trip back to Konoha, and while the lab is only a four day run for shinobi's, it's a nearly two week trip at a civilian's pace. While I would love to escort them back to Konoha myself, I cannot afford to be away for much longer. Ever since Minato died and I was reinstated, the Civilian Council has been trying to steal power and control over things that only the Hokage should have. I managed to stop them from doing so, and for a while it seemed like they had given up. But then the Uchiha Clan Massacre happened they have started up again, I guess I have no choice than to leave them with some of my Anbu as guides and take the rest as an escort home," _sighing Hiruzen turned to the group and explained the parts in his thoughts that directly related to them.

"It's fine, it's understandable that the leader of the village must return to the village as soon as possible, and we have to agree to the fact that it will take us a while to adjust to being outside," Yui said in a calm voice, despite the fact she was still blinking rapidly and slightly cringing from the sunlight.

"Could we have the group with Inu and Tora, they seem to like me and I'd kinda like to know why," Naruto added in a slightly strained voice, making said Anbu twitch wondering how he knew that until they remembered his Dojutsu.

Hiruzen chuckled and raised his brow at the aforementioned Anbu, getting a nod from both in response he replied "Certainly, I will leave Inu, Tora, Tori, and Kuma to escort you where you need to go, I also give Inu and Tora permission to take off their masks and talk to you personally if they wish." That part shocked the Anbu present until they stopped to think for a minute about both Anbu's relationship with the boy, if you could consider knowing his father and having the same thing done to you (to a lesser extent) as was done to him a relationship.

"Then I suppose we should head off now, Inu, Tora, Tori, Kuma, make sure they make it to Konoha safely, and take all the time you need to get there, as there's no reason to push them," receiving nods as confirmation to his orders, Hiruzen turned and began tree hopping toward Konoha at a rapid pace, his Anbu forming a loose protective circle around him. _"At least this gives me a chance to set the ground work of setting them up as shinobi of Konoha with the council without them there and without the need to admit that #23 is actually Naruto, I should also notify and call in Jiraiya as I'm sure he'll want to meet the godson he's been desperately searching for since his disappearance."_

Back with Naruto's group the Anbu left all looked to Inu for orders as he was the highest ranking person and therefore the leader of the group. Sighing and looking at the still cringing and whining former prisoners he knew that there was really only one thing they could do, "We'll get at least a short distance away from the lab and then we'll settle down and wait until these guys adjust to being in the light. After that we'll walk or jog to Konoha and give Naruto and the pups a chance to get used to be outside as everything will probably be overwhelming to them for a while."

Nodding the group each grabbed one of the former prisoner's shoulders while the odd one out picked up the pups, and, leading them away from the lab, started walking in the direction Konoha at a slow pace to make sure they didn't trip over anything. They hoped that at least the two who had been outside before would recover soon, as they could tell that neither Naruto nor the pups liked being touched by strangers, not that they were offended since they figured the only times they'd been touched by someone other than Yui and Asahi were probably not pleasant experiences. **(A/N No, I am NOT implying rape; I hate rape scenes, even as a flashback, it is one of the most disgusting things one human can do to another in my opinion.)**

They walked for three hours straight with little progress because, despite their best efforts, the practically blinded prisoners tripped over rocks and roots along the not really existent path. This is what happens when they try to walk with basically blind people in the middle of nowhere with no signs of anything having been so much as touched by humans for at least another couple of hours walk at this pace. At least Asahi and Yui had mostly recovered by now and were walking without help or tripping.

Naruto and the pups, on the other hand, were understandably overwhelmed. There's a huge difference between reading about and sometimes seeing pictures in books about something, and seeing, hearing, and smelling the thing for themselves for the first time. Naruto was looking around at everything with his mouth open so wide Asahi had more than once teased him about trying to catch flies with it….not that he heard the man.

The pups were constantly sniffing the air and then sneezing in an attempt to clear their noses of the overwhelming combination of new smells, plant rot and decay, animals of different types and sizes, pollen and the flowers it comes from, fruit, and so much more practically assaulted their sensitive senses that were so used to smelling death, fear, misery, unwashed humans, and so many other unpleasant scents they quickly learned to do their best to ignore. Not to mention all the sounds most took for granted, the chirping of birds, the rustle of grass and bushes, the wind blowing through the trees, all things most people naturally tune out after a short while that Naruto and the pups had no experience dealing with.

All in all they were making very little progress now not due to the fact that some of their group were sun-blinded but because of the fact that some of them were going through sensory overload as their brains tried to comprehend the extremely long list of new things they were seeing and experiencing for the first time.

They were so busy craning their necks trying to take in as much as they could that they would of walked into things multiple times if it weren't for the fact someone steered them clear of the thing in time, though they were sorely becoming tempted to let them do it in the hopes that they would pay at least a little more attention to where they were going.

Honestly enough if they weren't still too close to the lab for Inu's comfort, they would have just stopped and given them a chance to calm down and process everything, but as it was Inu wanted to be as far away from the place as they could be before they had to settle down for the night. Which was another cause for concern, as Anbu, they were trained to be able to go days without sleep if necessary while on a mission, either to be able to stay in enemy territory without risk of being caught unaware or, for cases such as this, where they need to get as far away from an enemy encampment as soon as they possibly can.

But with two prisoners who, while better taken care of than some of the others that weren't so lucky, were obviously not in the best of shape. On top of that they had a child and three recently born pups to take into consideration. They could not go without sleep like them, which meant that, despite the fact that his instincts screamed in protest, they would have to stop and camp for the night and make sure their charges got the proper amount of food and sleep, or they would be slowed even further as their charges weakened.

Which meant they'd also have to hunt and gather since all they carried with them was the standard Anbu rations….which is something even a hardened Anbu has trouble stomaching, he did not want to imagine the reaction a young child would have to it, not to mention the fact the pups wouldn't be able to eat it. This mission was getting, as a certain clan would phrase it, troublesome.

Don't get him wrong, Kakashi **(A/N I will call him Inu when he's thinking like an Anbu, Kakashi in general, and will add the proper suffix to one or the other depending on the person addressing him and what persona he's in at the time) **was sincerely looking forward to talking to the son of his sensei, who he had thought was dead until just a few hours ago. But the fact of the matter was that Kakashi was a naturally lazy, laid back person…unless in a serious fight or scolding someone he thought was in the wrong (and that includes Anbu or shinobi in his charge that makes a mistake).

So he was just now coming to realize that he'd agreed to pick the harder of two assignments, a basically over glorified yet at the same time extremely dangerous babysitting mission.

Over glorified because they were Anbu and because their charges, while still somewhat overwhelmed, would most likely be able to protect themselves from any bandits they'd encounter in the two week walk to Konoha.

Extremely dangerous because if any of Orochimaru's more powerful people, or even Orochimaru himself, returned to the lab and discovered the state of it and the loss of their most important experiments and prisoners (of that lab) without any sign of their bodies, they'd naturally realize someone saved them. Come to realize it was most likely Konoha, and come after them in an attempt to recapture their charges. Which would be an extremely deadly situation if they weren't at or at least close to Konoha by the time that happened, and it most certainly would happen.

Inu sighed slightly as he once again stopped Naruto from nearly walking into a tree, catching the bays attention. "Is something wrong Inu-san," the boy asked with slight curiosity in his voice. **(A/N…again…Most of you are thinking Naruto will be at least somewhat emotionally crippled and socially awkward, and that will be true for the most part. But he had Yui and Asahi, and later the pups, there to not only help him out in the emotions department by treating him like family, but Yui (as you will notice later in the story) has a somewhat "high-class" personality and practically beat manners and proper treatment of others (except their wardens) into Naruto's head. So while he'll come off as somewhat cool and withdrawn to people he doesn't know or like, he won't be another Sai. That and the fact he's pretty much suffering from sensory overload and is happy he and his family are free and going to get a home, can you really blame him for being so open?) **

Kakashi looked down at Naruto with an eye-smile…._"Which he can't see because of the mask…riiiight…...no I didn't forget, it just slipped my mind for a second….and now I'm trying to justify myself to my own mind, the stress this mission is going to cause is already getting to me it seems….and now I really need to stop this."_

Luckily for Kakashi and his wandering stress related thoughts, Naruto's concern at not being replied to right away had him say "Inu-san," in a questioning tone, breaking Kakashi out of his maddening talking to himself thoughts.

Silently thanking the boy for breaking him out of his seemingly messed up thought process Kakashi finally replied "Nothing you need to worry about Naruto, I'm just planning out the trip back to Konoha."

"Oh," Naruto was silent for a few seconds and seemed to be deep in thought about something, he then asked "Can you tell me some about what Konoha is like, I read all about its' history and laws, but know next to nothing about what it's actually like."

"Hmmm…well I suppose what you'd think of Konoha depends on what role you take there," Kakashi said in a thoughtful tone.

"What do you mean Inu-san," Naruto asked in slight confusion.

"Well, what I mean is that why you're at the village and what you do as a part of the village helps you decide what you feel about the village," Kakashi explained.

"So what does it mean for each person of the village than Inu-san," Naruto asked.

"Well, let's see here, for the regular citizens, it means safety, protection, and prosperity as they feel they are, and are, safe within the walls of one of the five great shinobi villages. For the merchants it means a prosperous place to trade and sell their wares as they make their stop there. For the shinobi, it is their most important thing to protect, the place they swear their loyalty to and will give their lives for if necessary," Inu's voice started of light and jovial, but by the end of his explanation it was hard and serious, conveying the importance and gravity of his words.

"But what about the Hokage," Naruto asked curiously, wondering why Inu hadn't said anything about their villages most important person.

"Ah, that is a good question. The Hokage, as you probably already know, is the most important person in our village, but what you might not realize is that he is also the most burdened at the same time," Inu said.

"Most burdened," Naruto asked curiously, little did they notice that they now had the attention of the rest of the former prisoners. The rest of the Anbu, of course, kept their attention to their surroundings.

"Yes Naruto, most burdened, the Hokage, as the villages leader, must make all the hard decisions. He must choose what missions to take and what to ignore, what shinobi to send on what mission, and as such he takes part of the blame if a mission goes awry and shinobi's lives are lost. He must also find ways to settle political problems both internally and with other villages and people. He must also be willing to give his life to protect the village and its people if necessary, as the Hokage is a shinobi as well. The Hokage's job is without a doubt the most important one, but it is also one of the most dangerous and stressful jobs as well," Inu explained in a serious, solemn tone.

"Kage's, not just the Hokage but all Kage's, must be very strong willed people to bear such a burden," Naruto murmured in a hushed tone.

"Yes, yes they are," Kakashi said with a slight chuckle, he was glad Naruto had taken an interest in the village that would soon become his home, and even more glad that this distracted him from gawking at the scenery enough that he started paying attention to where he was going. The pups seemed to follow Naruto's lead, so they, too, were now paying attention to where they were going.

Realizing this was a good opportunity to speed up their pace a bit and get further away from the lab before they had to camp for the night Inu said, "Let's up our pace some, I want to be as far away from the lab as we can before we have to camp for the night."

Getting a chorus of hai's, Inu increased the groups pace to a speedy jog.

Four hours later the Anbu were honestly surprised that their charges were only just starting to get tired, yes, the folder said they trained regularly, but there's a big difference between training in a cool, probably only somewhat large room, and jogging at a fast pace in the heat of the sun while dogging and jumping over all sorts of obstacles, little did they know or think to ask that all three of them, and even the pups, all had gravity seals on to make up for the lack of space in their training.

Noticing a river nearby, Inu called out "All right, let's take a short break," once again getting a series of hai's in response.

As soon as the group stopped, Yui and Asahi sat down, panting slightly, but Naruto and the pups seemed to still have energy to burn, so Kakashi decided to take advantage of that fact and said to Naruto, "Naruto, since you and your pups seem to still have energy to spare, why don't I escort you to the river and you can give them what seems like it would be their first bath in a long time, no shampoo though."

Naruto looked down at his hounds and thought, _"It's true, it's been a long time since I've been allowed to clean these guys, ever since they were weaned in fact. They're so dirt encrusted that I actually can't tell what color they really are anymore, everyone probably thinks they're just brown, but that's actually not true. And besides, he's probably also using this as an excuse to talk to me in private, which I'm interested in doing."_

Having finished his thoughts and come to a decision he replied, "I would appreciate that Inu-san."

Inu nodded to Naruto and looked over to the Anbu under his command and ordered, "Keep your eyes and ears peeled, you never know when our raid will be discovered, so it's best to keep our guard up. Eat if you have to, and share some of your rations with Asahi-san and Yui-san if they're hungry, we want to keep everyone's energy up after all." Once again getting a chorus of hai's from the group, Kakashi nodded to Naruto and began heading to the river, which took only about ten minutes of walking to reach.

"So may I ask who you are and why you seem to be happy to see me now, Inu-san?" Naruto asked as he began washing Kimi to the best of his abilities without soap.

In reply Kakashi removed his mask to show….another mask. The man's face was covered from the top of his nose down in a navy blue mask. His left eye was covered by his Konoha hitai-ate, so all Naruto really saw of him was his right eye, which was entirely black without even a pupil, his ears (since he also put down his hood,) and his already seen gravity defying silver hair.

"Ok, so, that doesn't really answer my question you know," Naruto said, glad that the river water was warm so he didn't have to worry about his teeth chattering.

"First off, let me answer a question with a question, do you know who your parents were, you're answer will decide how much I tell you," Kakashi answered in a serious tone.

"I know my mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the Red-hot Habanero to Konoha, and the Red Death to her enemies, I also know all about our clan and the fact it was wiped out at the start of the Third Shinobi World War. I know that my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, but other than that and the fact that they're both dead I know nothing about them. The people at the lab, Orochimaru especially, tried to tell me all sorts of lies about them, but I knew that that's what they were," Naruto said, barely pausing to take a breath. Having done the best he could for Kimi, he switched her out with Jun.

"Well, then I guess I can tell I you a I was a student and member of your father's genin squad, and a close friend of both him and your mother. That and my name is Kakashi Hatake," Kakashi told him, Naruto heard the sad melancholy in Kakashi's voice, but decided he wasn't close enough with the man to comment on it.

"I know that you probably want to learn more about me, but I'm not quite ready for that yet, so would you maybe tell me everything you're willing to about my parents," Naruto asked hesitantly.

Seeing the hesitance, hope, and most of all fear of being reprimanded in Naruto's eyes Kakashi sighed and nodded to him, "Well then let's start first with your father, shall we, Minato-sensei was a great man, he…."

For the rest of the time Naruto spent washing the dogs, letting them dry (all the while keeping Ryuu from rolling around in the dirt and making himself dirty all over again), and even for some time afterwards, they stayed there, one listening to and absorbing everything the other told him, three just trying to dry themselves off by licking themselves, only succeeding in making themselves cleaner.

They spent an hour total by the river, and by the time the hour was over Kakashi had told Naruto everything he knew and thought about his parents, which was quite a bit, and Naruto seemed to have warmed up to him a bit. But he would have to save that fact for another time, as their break had lasted more than long enough. So he got up, put his Inu mask back on, and told Naruto, "It's time to return to the group and start moving again." To which he got a hai in response.

When they returned to the rest of their group, every ones' eyes (except Kakashi's and Naruto's) were drawn to the pups, as though they were just now seeing them for the first time, which in a way they were. Without the dirt covering them they were all very different colors, which came as quite a surprise, even Kakashi was surprised by how much of a change a wash could cause.

Kimi has deep green eyes, and her fur is almost entirely white, with black front paws, a black tail and rump, and the top half of her ears a startling red. Jun has hazel/gold eyes, and his fur is almost all black, with his right forepaw and left hind paw being red, the top half of his tail was red as well, and his left ear was entirely white with a spot of white surrounding it. Ryuu was the biggest surprise of all; he was almost entirely red, with black paws (all four of them), white on the tips of his ears, and the tip of his tail also white, all of which made his still blue eyes all the more startling. All three had stick up ears and puffy fur and tails (imagine Akamaru only with stick up ears instead of droopy.) Jun was slightly smaller than both Kimi and Ryuu, who were the same size as each other. They didn't think dogs could be red, let alone the almost crimson red these three had.** (A/N I'd like to ask someone who's good at art to please send me an image of these three as I just described them, it doesn't matter to me if you want to add Naruto to the image or not, as long as you use my Naruto. You can even make Naruto as he'd be at 13, as he'll look and dress almost the same, except taller, 5ft 2in. Also, if you make him 13, put his hitai-ate around his neck with a black cloth. Since Inuzuka hounds grow at a much slower pace than a normal hounds since they have a human's lifespan, and my hounds are half Inuzuka, if you do make him 13, make Kimi and Ryuu only slightly bigger than Akamaru at that point, and Jun at the same size as Akamaru. I'd really appreciate it.)**

"Wow, I figured you guys would be surprised by how they really look, but I didn't think you'd be this surprised, if I had known that, I would have warned you," Naruto's slightly sheepish voice broke them out of their shock.

"Well Naruto, while you were bottle feeding them we didn't see you, and by the time we did see you again the pups were already dirty, and the lighting wasn't exactly the best in the first place. I honestly didn't think dogs could be red, especially not that shade of red" Yui admitted in a slightly shocked tone of voice.

"Well, they actually can't in most cases dogs with red in their coats is a sign of illness, but these guys were naturally born with it, and all tests state that they're perfectly healthy, so I think the only explanation I can give is that it's probably 'cause of me," he admitted in a low tone while looking down at the ground and pointing at the unruly mop of strawberry blonde that was his hair.

That got a round of blinks, they had all honestly forgotten about the fact that the pups had Naruto's genes in them. They acted so much like normal pups and, until they'd been washed, looked so much like ordinary pups that it was an easy thing to forget. But now that they'd seen their natural fur color it was easy to see the physical sign of his genes influence on them.

Noticing his beginning depression Asahi walked over and lightly hit Naruto on the head saying, "It's not your fault they did that to them and you know it, so don't go blaming yourself over anything out of the ordinary about them, blame those sick bastards instead."

"Language," Yui snapped.

"You know as well as I do that those jerks never watched their tongues around him, he's heard and said far worse, so long as he isn't foolish enough to say anything in an important conversation or to an important person, I see no reason to worry about it," Asahi replied.

"That's how it always is with you, you never consider the fact that if we let it become a habit with him then it most likely _will_ cause problems at some point," Yui shot back.

And so the two began bickering back and forth over all sorts of things, starting from differences of opinion over how to raise him and ending up at how they felt about how they treated other people in general. As the confrontation escalated, Naruto looked up from the ground with a smile, it was a small smile, but a genuine one all the same, the first the Anbu (other than Kakashi) had seen him make.

Suddenly that smile turned into a mischievous grin and, in a slightly amused tone, he said to them, "Why don't the two of you just confess your love for each other and get married already, you guys act like an old married couple anyway, so you might as well."

This statement had the automatic effect of turning them both as red as a tomato and spitting and stuttering out attempted counters and denials. Getting a laugh from Naruto and amused yips from the pups. Even the Anbu present were having trouble holding in their amusement at the duo's reaction.

In a desperate attempt at changing the subject Yui turned to Inu and said "We're all rested and ready to go whenever you are," getting emphatic nods of agreement from Asahi.

This time Inu was unable to completely hold back and he let out a small chuckle at their expense before saying, "Alright then, we're going to go at a faster pace than before and we're not stopping until we camp for the night, and make sure to keep your guards up, understood?" Once again getting a series of hai's or nods from those present he set of at mid to high genin speeds towards the village, though they didn't tree hop yet since Naruto and the hound would need to be taught how.

They continued this pattern of starting out slow and gradually speeding up through the day with the only break being a one hour lunch break all the way until they camped for the night. The hounds and Naruto proved to be excellent foragers and hunters, and regularly helped the Anbu get the food needed to feed everyone at night. While at the same time being taught how to tree hop, already knowing the wall-climbing exercise helped. During the lunch breaks and sometimes while Naruto was out foraging he and Kakashi would often talk about one another, and quickly grew an almost brotherly attitude towards one another when Kakashi was not in his Inu persona, as Naruto liked the calming, yet sad aura Kakashi gave off, and Kakashi liked the kind, (if withdrawn) aura Naruto gave off. All and all, they were making a pretty good pace, and if the pattern continued as it had so far they'd be at the village in just over a week, which was four days faster than estimated.

This pattern, however, was broken slightly the lunch break of the fourth day. When Kakashi (with his Inu mask on) tilted his head toward Naruto in an invite to take a walk together, as per usual, Naruto instead said, "Actually, I think it should be Tora's turn now, don't you?"

Kakashi sighed, he'd come to like the private time he'd spent getting to know Naruto, but understood where he was coming from, so even though he wasn't entirely happy about it, he turned to Tora and simply said "Go ahead," getting a nod from the man in response.

And so Naruto and Tora walked off into the forest. After getting a reasonable distance away from the group they came across a small clearing with large rocks scattered about, and decided to settle there to talk.

"So did you know my parents too, or did you have another reason for wanting to get to know me," Naruto asked the man curiously.

Just like Kakashi, Tora first removed his mask and hood, revealing what he looked like to Naruto. **(I'm not going to bother explaining, just imagine what he looks like in canon, only younger (should be 19-20 right now) and in Anbu gear rather than standard jonin gear.) **"It would have to be the second reason I'm talking to you, Naruto. You see, we happen to share a similar burden; I was taken and experimented on by Orochimaru at a young age. I was one of his original attempts at giving the **Mokuton** to children, babies really, the only one to survive the experiment, and as for my name…simply keep calling me Tora," Tora said in a solemn tone.

His explanation to Naruto as to why he wanted to get to know him left the boy staring at him wide eyed for what seemed to be a long moment, before finally saying "So I guess that means in a way we're related then, huh, well that's a shock," with a bittersweet smile on his face. Bitter at the thought of someone else having already gone through a little of what he did, but sweet at the thought of having yet another extended family member.

Tora, as though understanding the thoughts behind the smile said, "I hope we get to know each other well, and, with Hokage-sama's permission, that I get to teach you everything I know about our shared bloodline, if you're okay with that, of course."

All Naruto could do in reply was smile and nod, and so they spent the rest of the break simply talking about whatever they were willing to talk about with one another until it was time for them to return to the rest of the group.

The rest of their trip back to Konoha followed the same pattern as before, only now Naruto switched between spending time with Kakashi, Tora, both, or simply staying with Yui, Asahi, and his hounds for their break. All in all it took the group a little over a week and a half to reach the rather impressive looking gates of Konoha, much to the relief of some…and the anxiety of others.

**Konoha, 5 days after raid on lab, afternoon**

Hiruzen and his Anbu escort, after days of near non-stop travel, were finally back at Konoha, much to their relief. But, before he could head to the Hokage tower and begin not only the probably large stack of paperwork on his desk, but also on building the groundwork for Naruto's return and the other's welcome, he had one more thing to do.

Turning to the Anbu present he ordered "Get the bodies we stored away to the morgue, take the people we captured and put in containment seals to Ibiki at T&I, take all data we managed to obtain to the Intelligence Department to go through, and finally keep all news of our soon to be new citizens a secret, you are not to say so much as a _peep _about any of them, not even about their existence, I will handle all things about them, including their files, personally, do you understand me?" He began leaking out killing intent (KI) to make his point clear.

Getting a chorus of hai's from his Anbu, assured that no one was going to learn anything about them without him telling the person himself, Hiruzen nodded and said "Good, feel free to take a week long break after completing what I've told you to do, dismissed."

Getting a chorus of "Hai Hokage-sama's" and "Thank you Hokage-sama's," the Anbu shunshined to the locations they were told to go in order to drop the stuff off and begin their break.

Sighing and looking around his village for a second, detecting his normal Anbu guard take their accustomed positions, Hiruzen soon shunshined to his office, knowing he was going to have a monstrously big pile of all Kage's bane….paperwork. Appearing in his office in a puff of smoke and looking at his desk, Hiruzen nearly started crying and banging his head against the nearest hard surface (which just so happened to be the wall) at the sheer amount of paperwork sitting there waiting for him on his desk. Deciding that there were more immediately important things to do than go through that terror of a pile, Hiruzen sat at his desk and cleared enough space on it to write a letter to his wayward student, Jiraiya of the Sanin, Naruto's godfather.

Luckily due to a recent report from him that was conveniently at the top of the pile of paperwork, he knew the area in which to send the letter that simply stated a certain someone he'd been searching for had been found and that he would be told more once he got back to the village, since Hiruzen didn't want to risk sensitive information getting around if the messenger hawk was intercepted. Finishing that, he sent out a small pulse of his chakra to summon one of his hidden guards to stand in from of him.

"Swan, please tell the members of the shinobi council to be present for an important council meeting in one hour. JUST them, not the civilian council, and not my advisers, if any of them try to get in, you and the other Anbu have my permission to escort them out of the tower, understood?"

Getting a "Hai, Hokage-sama" in response, the Anbu shunshined away in a swirl of leaves in order to begin sending out the summons to the various clan leaders that made up the Shinobi Council.

Sighing once more he looked down at the paperwork, which somehow seemed to have grown since he came in and muttered to himself "Might as well get started," with anime tears running down his face.

**1 hour later, Council chamber**

Hiruzen calmly looked around the table at the other members participating in this council meeting, Tsume Inuzuka, head of the Inuzuka clan, Chouza Akimichi, head of the Akimichi clan, Inoichi Yamanaka, head of the Yamanaka clan, Shikaku Nara, head of the Nara clan, Hiashi Hyūga, head of the Hyūga clan, Shibi Aburame, head of the Aburame clan, the Senju clan seat was empty (and has been empty since Tsunade left the village), the Uchiha clan seat was empty since the only loyal Uchiha left was not of an age to take it yet, the Uzumaki clan seat, which most councilors have forgotten exists, is empty for the same reason as the Uchiha, (not that they know that yet,) and the Sarutobi clan seat and vote was his as was the Hokage's (no duh). All in all the most powerful clans' leaders were the members of the esteemed shinobi council.

Finishing his examination of each individual person, who were all showing their curiosity at being called into a council meeting just an hour after their Hokage went on a mission personally was enough to get even the normally lazy Nara and stoic Hyūga and Aburame to show their curiosity in their own ways. Deciding that he'd delayed long enough, Hiruzen took out a silence seal, the most powerful and airtight Jiraiya could make, set it on the table, and activated it, then activated the silence seals already present in the room as an added precaution.

Looking straight at the members of the council Hiruzen said to them, "Everything that is about to be discussed here today is to be considered an S-rank secret, discussing this with anyone outside of this room without my express permission is grounds for immediate execution, your clan head status _will not save you, _am I understood.

He received a chorus of "Hai Hokage-sama's," they knew better than to argue with him when he used that tone.

"This must be a very important topic if you're taking this many precautions to make sure it stays secret Hokage-sama," said the ever stoic Shibi.

"That is correct, Shibi-san, as it involves my former student Orochimaru," Hiruzen's statement got gasps and murmurs of surprise and concern from various members of the council, if one listened closely you'd also hear Shikaku's murmur of "Troublesome," mixed in.

"What has that slimy snake done now," Tsume growled out, Inuzukas valued loyalty and pack above all else so a traitor like Orochimaru really gets on their nerves.

"You all are probably aware of the recent string of kidnappings of civilian children and orphans that's been happening in the village the past couple of years," receiving nods of confirmation from them, he continued, "well, I received information from a reliable source stating that Orochimaru was up to his old tricks again, and giving the location of the place he was doing them in. Unfortunately, it was right."

Silence filled the room at his statement; they all remembered the last meeting that was called after their Hokage performed a raid on one of Orochimaru's labs. The horrors and atrocities they heard about and saw pictures of was enough to turn even Shibi green. The only good thing they got out of it was Tenzo, who has an invaluable ability that was lost until then. They felt sorry for the child, but they couldn't deny his usefulness, and he was now an excellent shinobi and member of the village. They were hoping this raid was not as bad as the last, but knew that it likely was.

"Is it all bad, or did we manage to save at least one of them like last time," Inoichi asked curiously.

"It was defiantly as bad as, if not worse than the last one, but yes, we did manage to save someone, several someone's in fact. That is what we are here to discuss today, what was done to them, who they are, and what their possible status in the village might be. I warn you, these ones that were saved are much older than Tenzo was when we found him, and therefore have an actual choice in whether or not they join this village or not, so don't try to push them into something they don't want when they get here," Hiruzen told them sternly, "This is also the reason why only you are here, as the others will try to twist things to satisfy their own desires."

Noticing Shikaku was about to ask a question Hiruzen replied to it before he could get it out "They were in no condition to come to the village at the pace I needed to return, so I left them with an Anbu escort so they can get here at their own pace." This answer satisfied him.

The rest of it got a round of nods from all present; they knew that the elder advisors, Danzo especially, would love to sink their claws into them.

"I will now pass around copies of all of their files, as you will probably be able to tell from reading through them, that they will probably need to go through at least a couple of sessions with Inoichi-san before making any final decisions about them," as he finished saying this, the members of the council opened the top file and began reading (The order goes Asahi, Yui, Naruto, the pups.)

After reading through Asahi's folder, the questions started.

"Is he as hotheaded as explained in the file," that came from Inoichi.

"Yes, but only for good reasons, he was actually pleasant and respectful towards me and the Anbu," replied Hiruzen.

"What are his plans in the village," asked Hiashi.

"He expressed an interest in becoming a shinobi, but only on the conditions that he is never put on the CRA and that all of them are not separated, as they are like family to each other, and of course we should put him through a few sessions with Inoichi to confirm his mental stability," Hiruzen replied.

The members of the council murmured to one another before Hiashi finally spoke to Hiruzen directly, "I can accept that."

"Shall we vote now about the decision to accept Asahi as a ninja on the condition he passes Inoichi's psych evaluation, while accepting the conditions he himself set before us, or shall we wait until they arrive," he asked them.

While waiting for them to make their decision, he was secretly hoping they'd choose to vote now, as there was a chance Danzo might find a way to influence this if they waited. He was just glad that the Hokage's advisers did not need to be present for the vote on whether or not to accept foreigners as shinobi or not, (the only ones that needed to present were the Hokage himself and the shinobi council,) or things would be much harder right now.

Once again acting as the groups' spokesperson Hiashi said "We'll vote now."

Giving an internal sigh of relief Hiruzen said, "Very well, all in favor of allowing Asahi to become a shinobi grated he pass our condition and we pass his, stand now." Everyone in the room stood, "Good, as of the moment he becomes a shinobi, as I am confident he will, Asahi will be immune to the CRA."

Realizing they were done with this man, at least until he actually got here, they moved on to the next file.

After getting through Yui's file Tsume couldn't help but chuckle and say, "I like this woman, freezing off the balls of anyone who tried to rape her despite the punishments she got for it; please tell me she wants to be a kunoichi as well, Hokage-sama."

"Yes she does, but she wants to be kept off the active duty list for a couple years at least since the person in the next file is a child she's taken to raising, and she wants to be there for him until he's older, so she doesn't want to risk herself on missions. She also has the condition she never gets put into any sort of breeding program, which I'm sure you'll all agree to since all of us think those things are disgusting. And of course she'll have to go through a mental evaluation as well," Hiruzen stated, and settled back to once again let them discuss this with one another.

This time it was Tsume who spoke for them all, "We'll do the vote on all of this now, since we figure that will be your next question"

Getting a nod from Hiruzen he said the same thing he said for Asahi, once again everyone voted yes. Seeing this he said "Very well, Yui, if she passes her psyche test, will become an official kunoichi of Konoha but will not be put on the active duty list until the child is older, she will also be immune to being put into any breeding programs as well."

Once again they moved on to the next file…and were horrified by what they read, especially Tsume who questioned, "Hokage-sama, the pups?"

"Are completely and totally loyal to the boy, and will not be separated from him. However, if you wish to bring Kuromaru to see if he can smell their father in them, and, with their approval, if you want to train them, you are free to. They are also the last file on the table as you might have already guessed," Hiruzen told her.

She nodded and said, "I believe I will do just that Hokage-sama, and I hope they and the boy will be willing to train under me and let the hounds learn of their roots."

"What of the boy himself, he seems to be very powerful, and while I'm already assuming he's not to be put under the CRA, what else will be done with him, as he's a bit young to be a chunin," Shikaku asked in his typical lazy manner.

"The boy also wishes to become a shinobi, however I agree with you on the fact he is a bit young to become a shinobi. So what I will do is apprentice him to both Asahi and Tenzo, making him an up and coming shinobi-to-be, and therefore under my direct jurisdiction despite not being a full shinobi. I will also be putting him in the academy alongside his age group so that he can to learn how to better react and interact with others, after putting him through the same mental evaluation as the others, of course," Hiruzen said, telling them of his plan for him.

This time they did not even take the time to discuss, they simply looked at each other, nodded, and let Shikaku say, "We all cast our vote in a yes to all of that and the fact that he is immune to the CRA."

"Just out of curiosity, who is the boy," Chouza asked curiously, voicing everyone else's question for them.

Hiruzen sighed, he knew this was coming, he was just glad that they had nothing against the boy and were smart enough to see his heritage despite the fact he was a newborn at the time, but this would still be an explosive reaction. Mostly because many of them, having recognized his heritage, had wanted to adopt him, and all of them were devastated when they learned that the last link to their precious Yondaime was most likely dead or permanently out of their grasp.

He took a moment to pack his pipe with tobacco and light it with a minor fire jutsu, knowing he would need its soothing qualities soon enough. Once it was lit he took a breath in and out of it and said, "He is someone we all know very well and thought was lost to us," causing most the people in the room to tense, not knowing who he meant, and Shikaku to stare at him with wide eyes, being able to make a guess just from that putting that statement together with what little physical description he had of the boy, "He is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze," he finished simply.

They all stared at him, frozen, for a long minute, and then chaos descended. Voices rose in shouts, offers to adopt him were put forth, and the general insanity that happens when people are told something stunning ensued.

He gave them all five minutes to let them get the worst of it out of their systems, and then shouted "ENOUGH," while leaking out enough KI to instantly shut them up. "He, as you already know, has people to take care of him, and therefore doesn't need to be adopted. As for a place for them to live, I will be giving them the deed to the Namikaze estate, as it is Naruto's birth right, as well as the Uzumaki clan funds for the same reason, so he will not need what you are offering. As for telling the rest of the populous of his heritage, we will wait until he becomes a jonin as originally decided so that his parents' enemies do not make him a target before he is strong enough to deal with them. I believe he will comply with only using the Uzumaki part of his name until then. As for your concerns about him being discovered by living in his parents' house, remember the fact that they built it in the forest, on top of the Hokage monument, and the only people who really knew about it were us, some Anbu, and their closest friends. Not even the elder advisors knew where they lived, and no one who did will break their trust in them by blabbing about it just because they died. Not to mention the security seals are so complex the only ones with access to the place was them and me, and if that wasn't enough it's out of the way enough that no one goes there unless they know about the place, so there's no need to worry."

His words calmed them as they knew they were true, but there was one last issue they needed covered before he dismissed them for the day.

"What about the civilians' reactions to the matter, you know one of the civilian council members leaked the fact he was a jinchuuriki to them. Your law about the fact being an S-rank secret where if anyone other than you or him tells someone not already in the know is automatically executed being enforced despite his disappearance might give him a chance with the younger generations. That and there will be no problem what so ever on the shinobi side due to your strict teachings to everyone on exactly what a jinchuuriki is, even adding a lecture on them and the bijuu to the academy, has more than enforced the fact that the container is NOT the beast to them, but grudges can last a long time, and not everyone has let go," Tsume said in concern.

At that Hiruzen let out a weary sigh and admitted, "I don't honestly know."


	3. Chapter 3 - Homecoming

Edited 10/19/2014 Hey, yeah, sorry this isn't an actual update, I'm simply editing all the chapters I've already done to fix some errors I made name wise and so, and also adding a few things here and there to make the story flow more smoothly.

**(A/N Ok, I just learned I made a major mistake, Tenzo (Yamato) is NOT Neko, that's Yugao, Tenzo is Tora (tiger), so from this chapter on when I call the Anbu Tora, I mean Tenzo. I will go back and fix my mistake in earlier chapters soon. And please, please, please more reviews, I'm happy I have few negative reviews, but this is an entirely new genre for me and honestly enough I stopped watching Naruto years ago after the Pain arc and, while I still like the series up to then for the most part, I might make more mistakes like with Tora, so please review, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism welcome.)**

**Chapter 3 – Homecoming…..sort of**

**Konoha Village Entrance, with Naruto**

As soon as the group announced their presence to the gate guards, a group of Anbu appeared. The one with a Swan mask stepped forward and said, "You are to take our new guests straight to Hokage-sama's office by his orders."

Inu, Tori, Tora, and Kuma nodded and grabbed their charges in order to shunshin them to their Hokage's office. Arriving at the office, they saw their Hokage sitting behind his usual desk, but what surprised them was the fact that Inoichi Yamanaka was standing near him.

"Ah good, you guys are here, earlier than planned as well. Inu, Tora, please stay, Tori, Kuma, you are dismissed, feel free to take a week long break before taking your next missions, but you are under no circumstances to tell anyone about our new citizens, understood? ."

Getting a chorus of hai's, the dismissed Anbu left while the other two remained where they were.

Hiruzen looked at the three former prisoners and said "I spoke with the council and they all agree to your wishes to become shinobi while following your conditions, if you agree to some conditions of our own."

"And what kind of conditions are these Hokage-sama," Asahi asked with a hint of suspicion.

"First, let me ask you if you know of the Yamanaka clan and their clan's abilities," getting a round of nods he continued, "good, the first condition you must accept is to let Inoichi here mind-walk all three of you in order to confirm your mental stability. I assure you that anything he sees in your mind will not go further than the people in this room, and even that will be kept strictly to things we need to know."

The three exchanged glances, nodded, and let Yui say, "We accept this condition Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded and said "Good, Inoichi will do this as soon as I finish listing the other conditions. The second condition is for Naruto only," getting a curious look from the boy he continued, "Naruto, while I'm sure you're at least genin level both knowledge and skill wise, I am worried about your lack of interaction with people who aren't your family or people who mean you harm, that and your lack of experience leads me to putting you in the academy." Seeing the boys worried look he was quick to assure, "Don't worry I'm going to put you under and apprenticeship, mostly under Asahi, and, if he agrees, Tora, but also under anyone else willing to teach you that I and Yui-san approve of. So you will be under my jurisdiction. Also, if she wants to, she will become your legal guardian by adoption; on the condition she takes your name."

"I accept these conditions Hokage-same, I am curious, however, over whether you mean my full name, or just the Uzumaki part of my name, as I don't think I'm ready to handle my father's enemies yet," Naruto said.

"Ah yes, I would prefer it if the both of you simply went by Uzumaki until you are ready, I had meant to address that latter, but seeing as how you brought it up, and have pretty much already agreed to it, from now until you are a tokubetsu jonin, you will only go by the Uzumaki part of your name," Hiruzen stated.

"Understood, Hokage-sama, can we please pause in the conditions for a minute to let Yui-oba-san sign the adoption papers if she wants to," Naruto asked, getting an "Of course I want to, silly," in reply.

Nodding, Hiruzen took out the already prepared document (as in already signed and stamped by him as well as already filled out,) and put it on the desk for her to sign. After she finished signing the document he said somewhat cheerfully, "Very well than, from now on you are Yui Uzumaki, I hope you continue to take as good care of Naruto as you already have been." After getting a nod of confirmation from Yui, he added, "I too have something I need to do before giving you the final condition."

He reached for a secret storage seal under his desk and added chakra to it, causing a scroll slightly longer and thicker than his arm, two letters, and three documents to come out of it. Looking straight into Naruto's eyes as he put them on the desk he told the boy "Naruto, what I have here is your inheritance from both of your parents. The scroll is locked by a blood seal only you can open, and contains both the Namikaze and Uzumaki kenjutsu styles, all of their taijustu styles, all of their sealing styles, and their signature techniques, among other things, go through it later at your leisure. The two letters are letters your parents wrote in their final moments, just before they went off to fight the Kyuubi. And finally the three documents, two of them are your parents' bank account, which also happens to be the clan funds for their respective clans, you are not allowed to use your father's until you start using his name, but you are free to your mother's. The final document is the deed to the Namikaze estate, which you will all be living at; you don't to worry about anyone discovering your heritage by living there, as few people know of it. I have to warn you that because of that and the security seals which prevent anyone other than you or me from entering it that it and the property around it will have most likely fallen into a state of disrepair."

"Don't worry Hokage-sama, I know enough about carpentry to perform any repairs, and am able to make more than enough shadow clones to make cleaning and repairs, a simple task as long I have the tools necessary for it," Naruto told him.

"Alright then, if you say so," Hiruzen stated, "Anyway, the final condition is that you stay at the house until the council meeting tomorrow to meet the council, as they wish to meet you, and then to once again to stay at the house until the mayhem that will be caused by the announcement of Naruto's return to the village, which we will be making shortly after the council meeting, calms down. Don't worry about food and supplies as I will assign Inu and Tora to watch over you during the day and bring you any food or supplies you need as long as you supply the funds, as you will find more than enough money to pay for whatever you need in the house itself."

Once again they exchanged looks and nods and this time it was Asahi that said "We accept all three conditions Hokage-sama."

Nodding, Hiruzen looked to Inoichi, who nodded and walked over to the three. Deciding to start with Asahi, he asked permission, and, after receiving it, put his hands on the man's head and began his technique. After a couple of minutes he removed his hands from the now unconscious man's head and said, "He's stable, but does have a bit of a temper issue that makes me recommend not making him a jonin, regardless of what the test he will take to determine his rank says."

Getting a nod of understanding from Hiruzen, he moved on to Yui and did the same thing. Removing his hands from the now unconscious woman he said "Other than a habit of giving minor frostbite to those who insult her looks and perverts, she is completely stable, and as there are plenty of kunoichi who assault those who insult their looks and perverts, I find no problem in her getting whatever rank she deserves."

Getting yet another nod of understanding from Hiruzen, he moved on to Naruto, once again doing the same thing. After a couple minutes he paled and removed his hands from the now unconscious child and said in a slightly shaky voice, "The things they did to the child to get him to obey them are simply horrible. They almost never physically abused him, but the things they did to terrify him are simply horrible and I am shocked that I didn't find any permanent mental scaring or rational or irrational fears from it. He's completely stable, but your idea to have him go to the academy first is a good one, as he deserves to have at least a semi-normal rest of his childhood before becoming a ninja."

Getting another nod from Hiruzen he was then told, "Very good, please remember that everything you saw in their minds is completely confidential. You are dismissed." Inoichi nodded and shunshined away in a poof of smoke.

Taking the couple of minutes it would take for the three to wake back up, Hiruzen took out two Konoha hitai-ates. When they did wake up a couple of seconds later and realized Inoichi was gone, they looked at Hiruzen questioningly. Noticing this Hiruzen tossed Yui and Asahi the headbands on the desk and said, "Congratulations, all three of you pass, Asahi, Yui, you will be tested for what rank you will be given after everything calms down. Afterwards, Asahi will be put on the active duty list while Yui, as requested, will be put on reserve until Naruto is older."

The two of the nodded and put on their headbands, Yui tied hers around her waist like a belt and Asahi put his around his left arm. **(A/N Second image request, if no one wants to do the hounds alone then could you do the whole family, Asahi, Yui, Naruto, and the hounds all together. Yui likes to wear Kimonos and Yukatas designed for battle, and Asahi likes to wear black Anbu pants with a black or navy blue shirt. Once again if you want to make them older look at what I said about what Naruto and the hounds will look like by the time they graduate. I'd actually prefer to see them older than at this age. To anyone that's good at art [or at least better than me, who can't even make a circle round or make a stick figure without it looking crippled T.T] that's reading this story I would really love to see this or my other requested image. *Puppy dog eyes no jutsu* PLEAAASE!)**

Thinking for a second and realizing he had nothing more to tell him right this instant, he said "Now that that's all over, Inu, as you know where the compound is please make enough clones to shunshin everyone to the front gate of their new home. Naruto, in order to enter the house draw a little blood and put it on the Uzumaki swirl on the gate, then push a little of your chakra in it."

Getting a couple of hai's, Inu quickly made enough Kage Bunshins to shunshin everyone to the compound, which grabbed them and did so. Arriving there himself he found Naruto already opening the gates and the group walking in, so he quickly joined them.

As soon as the last person was through, the gates slammed shut behind them, sealing shut once more. The group looked around in awe at the compound and property. Despite being overrun with weeds the yard was both beautiful and huge, with flower and what seemed to be herb gardens, three different kinds of training grounds, one with lots of trees, one with a large pond with a clear area around it, and one that seemed to be an extremely rocky terrain. There was even a meditation garden with a small pond that had what seemed to be koi in it and a small artificial waterfall.

The house itself was also beautiful; it was a three story (four if you count the basement they don't know about yet) country style wood house in a homey light yellow color with a tiled roof, but they could see the state of disrepair it had fallen into, ivy grew over almost the entire house, covering the windows, and the porch swing was off its hinges, and that's just what they could see from this angle. They could also see a reasonably large tool shed not too far off in the distance, also in a state of disrepair.

"Looks like you guys have your work cut out for you," Kakashi said in a lazy tone.

"Not really, or were you not paying attention when I said I could just spam enough Kage Bunshin to do all the work in no time," right after saying that he made 200 seal-less, but not smokeless, Kage Bunshins, noticing the small amount of smoke he frowned and added, "Looks like I still need to do some work on it though."

The two Anbu were glad that their masks hid their shock, for a kid to effortlessly produce so many clones at such a young showed a frightening amount of chakra….which really shouldn't be that shocking seeing as how he had a giant entity made entirely of chakra sealed into him slowly leaking and mixing its chakra with his.

Turning to his shadow clones he began issuing out orders, "Alright, 60 of you head to the tool shed and get what you need to take care of the land, cut the grass, repair or replace the training posts, clean out the ponds, weed out the flower and herb gardens, for those of you who do the last two chores after you finish weeding each bed out go back through and label all the flowers and herbs, the order will be name, uses (if they have any), and dangers (if there are any.)"

After getting a series of "Yes, boss" from 60 of the clones, which automatically went to start their tasks, he moved on. "Five of you will also go to the tool shed and get the necessary supplies to clean up and repair the shed itself," once again getting a reply, five clones also automatically went to start their assigned tasks.

Pausing a minute to make sure his clones were really doing what he told them to do he continued, "Ten of you start working on fixing up the outside of the house, don't get rid of all the ivy though, keep enough of it for decorative purposes, also keep your eyes peeled for any seals that might be present and document them, the order goes, the condition they're in, what they do, whether they're active or not, and where they are, when you're done, bring the finished list to me," same reply, same action.

"After I open the house in the same way I opened the gates I want ten clones each cleaning all three floors, with an extra five working on the kitchen, as I'm sure you don't want to smell rotting food and I don't want the memory of the smell, make sure you use your masks," same reply, and, after he opened the door, same action.

"Next I want ten clones each to find the library, armory, and study respectively and organize, sort, and list every single thing we have, you know how detailed I want it, and who to return the finished lists to. Also look for, but don't try to open, the safe that's probably hidden in one of those three rooms, one of you come out and tell me when you do. Before you go I want the group going to the library to come to me and grab the scroll that has all the books and scrolls we brought from the lab, as I want them added to it, oh, and try not to get in the way of the cleaners," same replies, similar actions only one group walked up to Naruto and collected the scroll he mentioned before walking off.

"Next I want groups of five per floor going over the walls and floors of the house thoroughly, once again searching for and thoroughly documenting any seals you find, you know the order and what to do with them," same reply, same action, there were now 50 clones left.

Just as he was about to continue, one of the first floor clones came out and said, "Boss, seems like there's a basement, a really big one too. I just wanted to tell you that and will get back to my own work now."

"Alright then, I want 30 of you to go down to the basement, ten to clean, ten to go through and organize and document whatever is down there, and ten to go through it looking for any seals that have been placed around it, same organization, and once again, give the finished lists to me when you're done," same reply, same action.

"The rest of you will be going over the fence around the property, ten to clean and repair it, ten to look for and document any seals on it, you know what to do with the list," yet again, same reply, same action.

Looking at the two Anbu Naruto politely asked "Could one of the two of you please go out and get enough food, toiletries **[toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toilet paper, ect.], **and, after you get our sizes and preferences, clothes to last us two weeks, as we will probably be here for at least that long without being able to leave and we should probably be wearing clean clothes when we meet the council. I'm sure I'll have found and opened the safe by the time you get back so we can pay for it all."

"I'll do it," Tora volunteered, as he knew Kakashi never would, and, after getting each person's sizes and preferences, left to buy the requested items.

Looking around at his various Kage Bunshins Naruto decided to go and help out the ones working on the meditation garden as that would be a nice place to sit and wait for his clones to do what they were tasked to do. After looking at each other and shrugging, Asahi and Yui went to help a group of clones with what they felt like helping with. Inu simply went over to a tree, jumped up to a branch, sat on it, and took out a certain little orange book that we all know well.

Half an hour later Naruto and the clones were done cleaning and fixing the meditation garden and, while the clones moved on to work on other areas, Naruto sat down and decided to read the letters his parents left him. So he unsealed them from one of the many storage seals (among others) he kept on his sash.

These storage seals are, one for weapons, one for medical supplies, one for poisons, one for important documents (where he had the deeds and inheritance still,) one for weapons laced with paralyzing and disorienting poisons (it had six sections to it where all you had to do was add chakra to the section you wanted and you'd get either a senbon, kunai, or shuriken with one or the other kind of poison depending on which section he put chakra into), one with weapons laced with deadly poisons (same as the other laced weapons with only three sections this time), one with antidotes for said poisons (except the instant kills), one with a large amount of high quality sealing material, one for other things of importance such as food, water, firewood, a lighter, ect, and one that had been empty that he was now going to use for money, and once he got one, the wallet he'd use to hold it in (which he had asked Tora to get one shaped like a dog if possible). **(A/N Hey, he's still a kid, so sue me for wanting to give him a cute wallet.)** The last two he had added during the trip to Konoha, all in all he could store everything he needed in his sash and get rid of the need to carry items around.

Along the inside of the belt was a seal to make it fireproof, a seal that made it as hard as diamond while staying as flexible as cloth, a seal that allowed the sash to grow with him so he didn't need to worry about replacing it as he got older, a seal that kept it clean and free from all forms of filth (so that he wouldn't have to hand it over to be washed and possibly never see it again),a seal that made it so that all the seals are hidden from all forms of detection even when they were in use, a seal that made it so that all the seals would only recognize and activate to/for his chakra, and, most importantly, three self-repairing seals that, if someone managed to get through all the other seals and damage it, it would not only repair the sash but also all the seals on the sash. And with three of the seals in three different places around his belt he had backups just in case one or even two of them were damaged.

Opening the first letter, one that had son on it in an obviously feminine hand, he began to read.

**To my dear son Naruto,**

**In case you haven't realized this yet this letter is from your mother Kushina Uzumaki, me. I'm afraid that after having the Kyuubi ripped out of me by a mysterious masked man that I don't have much time left in this world. Know that I love you, I know that your father is going to seal the Kyuubi in you and I know that because of that you're most likely going to lead a hard life, as people can be cruel and stupid about things their ignorant about, but try not to let it get to you too strongly. Find friends and people you can see as family who are smart enough to see you as you, not as the Kyuubi. Know that no matter what happens or what you choose to do in life that I will always be proud of you and love you, my son, and now I must go and help your father seal the Kyuubi.**

**Take care and be safe my lovely little boy,**

** Love, Kushina –attebane!**

Naruto was on the verge of crying by the time he finished the letter, he was ecstatic to know that his mother truly did love him. Taking a couple of minutes to compose himself he then opened his father's letter.

**Naruto,**

** If your reading this than Hiruzen decided it was time to tell you about your mother and I, if this is coming pretty late in your life, please don't blame the man for keeping it from you, as I requested he did so until you were at least chunin level in strength. I wanted you strong and mature enough to know about your heritage and about the contents of this letter. If you are reading this it also means that I died sealing the Kyuubi into you. I hope you can forgive me for it, but no matter how much it pains me I am a Hokage before I'm a father, and what kind of Kage can ask his people to do what he himself can't? I wish I could be there for you, but hopefully you've been raised with love even without me and your mother there. Now I have something very important that I need to tell you, so pay close attention. On the day of your birth, shortly after your birth when your mother's seal was at its weakest, a mysterious orange masked man claiming to be Madara Uchiha appeared and took you hostage, demanding your mother in return for you. (The story of what happened goes the same as in cannon, so if you want to know the rest look it up.) I'm sure that the masked man will return, and he'll be after you as the new jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. So please be careful, get strong, and stay safe. Know that I love you and will always be proud of you, even if you hate me for sealing Kyuubi into you.**

** Your father, Minato (P.S. I hope you didn't inherit your mother's verbal tick, as she was praying you wouldn't the entire time she was pregnant with you.)**

Once again on the verge of tears, Naruto quickly closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm himself down. After a couple minutes he was once again calm, and reopening his eyes to see Tora return, he made several more clones the grab the stuff from him and put them in their proper places and one to grab some of the money from the safe he had paused in cleaning the meditation garden to open a little over fifteen minutes ago so he could pay him back.

Shortly after that the clones that he had made to check the inside and outside of the house, the ones charged with the gate, and the ones who went through the basement for seals, came to him and, handing him the lists, dispelled themselves, giving him a memory of the lists without the need to read them. (He had the lists made so that if he felt like he was forgetting one later he could go over them.) He then made 60 new clones and charged them with repairing all the seals that needed maintenance, as they would need the chakra levels of fresh clones to repair them all.

He was shocked by the sheer amount of seals on and in the house, not to mention the ones on the gate. Protection seals of all kinds, trap seals for thieves (and assassins), repelling seals to deflect chakra related attacks, and even maintenance seals….which had been overwhelmed and broken without humans there to help. The biggest surprise came from the seals in the basement.

There were seals meant to make the giant basement, which he quickly realized was a training area, able to sustain the apocalypse without problems. It was obviously the place where his parents practiced their most dangerous and secret jutsus, and he was happy to know almost all those seals were still in excellent condition as some of them were beyond his level still. All in all no one was getting into their property or house without their permission.

Having finished going over all the facts in his head he made two clones. One he handed the lists and told it to go to the study and put the where other seal related scrolls were. The other he ordered to get a sample of blood from Yui and Asahi and then add both of them to the seals on the house and gate so they could enter at will.

Over the next three hours his clones gradually dispelled giving him their memories. He now knew the house had five bedrooms, the master, which would be his and his hounds (Yui and Asahi insisted on it), was large with a king sized bed, two end tables with lamps on them, a chest at the foot of the bed, a vanity (probably his mom's), a desk, and a walk in closet. Naruto took all his parents clothes and stored it in a storage scroll, and then put it in a drawer in the desk (the whole thing was completely empty some reason) because he wanted to keep them for sentimental reasons.

The only other items in the room were his mother's jewelry and journal, and some photos, which he kept right where they were. It also had a joint bathroom with an enormous shower and equally huge bath.

This bedroom and two other large ones, if not as large, that also had large (but not as large) connected bathrooms made up the entire third floor. Asahi and Yui would be taking these bedrooms…once they replaced the nursery with furniture that matched the other room, the sight of that made the clones that saw it almost go into hysterics. In the nursery the only things Naruto would be keeping would be the stuffed toad, fox, and dog that had been in his crib, and the photo of his parents, with his mother showing to be far along in her pregnancy on the table next to it (the closest thing he will ever have to a family photo), which he had already moved into his room. The rest he already had clones remove from the room, store into scrolls, and hand to Tora so that he could sell them and then use the scrolls again to buy furniture that matched the other room (Yui insisted on it, saying having one room with different furniture from every other room in the house would mess up the elegance of the house, they could always personalize it with decorations later.)

The other room had a queen sized bed, a nightstand with a lamp on it, a good sized dresser, and a desk. When Yui said that she liked the view she got from the room's window, Asahi said she could have it. Naruto then insisted on giving her the vanity that was in his room, which she happily accepted.

Soon enough, with the exception of Asahi's room, for which they were still waiting on the furniture for, Naruto had a complete map of the rest of the house and its contents in his head.

The second floor had two guest bedrooms and a bathroom on one side, and the study and armory took up the other side. The study was obviously his fathers, it had all his notes on fuinjutsu, his special hirashin kunai, a large amount of Kage related paperwork that one of the Naruto clones took the obligation of storing it all in a storage scroll and taking it to Inu to deliver to the Hokage without feeling the need to ask the original before returning to work. It also had his father's journal and a whole shelf full of books and scrolls on fuinjutsu, various taijustu and kenjutsu styles, and other things of interest. It had been disorganized when the clones started going through it, but it was now extremely well organized, and Asahi and Yui both said they had no interest in it, so Naruto took it as his own.

The armory had a mind-boggling amount of shuriken, kunai, senbon, fuma shuriken, and ninja wire all stored in their own personal labeled storage scrolls, telling them how much of what was in each. Just to make sure the weapons stayed maintained while in the scrolls the clones unsealed each scroll one by one and confirmed they were still in perfect condition. There were also two sword which were obviously the Namikaze and Uzumaki clan swords respectively, he added a new seal to the last open space in his belt and put them into it, but told himself he wouldn't use them until he perfected both clans kenjutsu styles. **(A/N New request, I know almost anything about weapons, so if you guys could give me descriptions of what you want both swords to look like, I'll take the ones I like the most for both and describe them in later chapters.) **

For other weapons, there were also two tantos made of chakra conductive metal, which he gave to Asahi when asked as the man was amazing at kenjutsu and specialized in a double short sword style. He had only been allowed to use bokens since his capture, but if his warm-up with his new swords was any indication it hadn't dulled his skills much. One chakra conductive bostaff, which he gave to Yui as she had always wanted to learn how to use a weapon and it seemed to suit her perfectly. And finally an assortment of different kinds of daggers which seemed to be a collection of some sort, since they knew there was no way some of them could be used in actual combat. There were also various oils, polishing cloths, and whetstones needed to maintain the weapons, more than enough to last years, if not longer.

As for books and scrolls, there was at least the basics of five different styles each for each weapon present (Yui quickly started reading one of the ones for Bojustu) and an amazing amount for at least the basics of over twenty different taijustu styles, and up to the advanced styles of ten of them.

The first floor was composed of the kitchen, a descent sized dining room, a large living room, the library, another bathroom (without a tub or shower), a pantry, and a reasonably sized closet for cleaning supplies.

The library was filled with books about everything previously mentioned and more, including many of the things Naruto learned while in Orochimaru's lab, with more on each subject.

As for the flower and herb gardens, they were chock full of useful (and often expensive) flowers and herbs that could be used to make medicines, salves, and poisons, some of which are extremely valuable as they are incredibly potent. Just as Naruto finished giving everyone a tour of the property (I already covered the basement), Tora showed up with the new furniture, and, after being paid what they still owed despite the stuff he sold first, moved the furniture into Asahi's room.

After they finished packing their new clothes away in their respective rooms except for one pair each, they all went to their bathrooms to wash. Naruto, of course, washed his hounds first, using the puppy shampoo Tora got from the Inuzuka's pet store (Tora also got special puppy chow, three dog bowls, dog treats, special fur friendly doggy towels, new collars [no name tags,] and chew toys for them); he thoroughly washed all three in the bathtub with warm water, as he'd already decided he'd only be using the shower anyway. After all three hounds were clean and dried off with the doggy towels; he put their new collars on them, after putting new flea repellent and gravity seals on them and setting them to the level they were at (they can deactivate and activate them themselves by removing or adding chakra to them, but not set the levels they're at.) The colors of the collars matched the color of their fur respectively, and therefore were hard to notice, as they had no metal on them in order to prevent them from flashing in sources of light.

After Naruto finished taking a shower of his own and dressing in his new clothes (minus the sash) that, since he wasn't planning of doing any training for the day as it was already time to prepare dinner (and he didn't feel like training at night yet), wasn't his standard "robe" as Asahi called it. With that thought in mind he was wearing one of the few "non-robes" he had asked for, other than some comfort pajamas, he got three all black tops, and two pairs of black shinobi pants, he decided to go barefoot, but he normally wore black shinobi sandals, and didn't have Tora get him anything other than another couple of new pairs. And of course he tied his sash over the pants.

He headed down, poured his hounds their food, and, after asking Tora and Inu if they'd join in and getting no's in response, started cooking enough Yakisoba for three.

Soon after he finished Yui and Asahi came down, Asahi normally dressed exactly like Naruto was right now, and this time was no different, Yui, on the other hand, was dressed in a blue kimono with falling snowflakes all over it. They all sat down at the dining room table and began eating, pausing occasionally to talk some, Asahi about accustoming himself to his swords, Yui about a Bojustu style that would work perfectly with her bloodline, and Naruto simply listening to them and occasionally commenting.

Once dinner was finished Naruto decided he had something he needed to do so he said, "I'm going to meditate at the garden, please don't disturb me unless it's important."

"Sure thing, kiddo, just don't stay out there too late or you'll have Yui after you," Asahi said.

"And what, exactly, do you mean by that," Yui asked in a slightly peeved tone.

"Exactly what I said, of course" Asahi said bluntly, and thus another "old married couple argument" started, which prompted Naruto to leave.

Walking over to the meditation pond, Naruto sat down and began to meditate, soon entering his mindscape. His mindscape, when he had first entered it, had looked like a sewer, a dank, leaky, dark, sewer. After a little mental work however, his mindscape now looked like what he had always imagined a forest would look like, with mountains not far off and the sound of a waterfall leading into a river coming from them. As he looked around he realized that while the land was highly accurate, the sky was way too blue and the sun a bit too dull, so he closed his eyes and focused, and when he opened them again things were as they should be.

Nodding in satisfaction, Naruto headed for the nearby mountain range, and soon reached a giant cage that reached halfway up the mountain it was on and was nearly as wide. Looking through the bars one could see that the entire mountain was hollow on the inside, and that it looked like a really comfortable den with a huge bed of grass, a small waterfall feeding water into a large pool, and no sharp rocks or stalagmites to deal with. This was the residence of the Kyuubi no Yoko, or, as Naruto knew him, Kurama.

Soon enough said demon fox walked up from a deeper part of the cave to the gate itself. He truly was an enormous beast, easily the size of the Hokage Monument, with teeth and claws the length and size of Naruto himself and orange-red fur. After what seemed like an hour long staring contest one of them spoke.

"**So, miracle of miracles, we're finally out of that hell-hole," **Kurama said in a deep, resounding voice.

"Yes, yes we are, and now that we are I can convert that seal of yours into a collar or anklet so you can run around freely without the risk of snake-face noticing something different with the seal," Naruto replied.

"**Ah yes, and I will finally give you the next ability you receive as my host after an even more rapid healing ability than your Uzumaki blood gives you, which is Negative Emotion Sensing," **Kurama said in satisfaction at the thought of being able to run through the forest that was his host's mind.

"I'd appreciate it, not everyone in this village can be categorized as enemy or not like at the lab, and I can't exactly go running around with my Dojutsu active all the time to read people or they'd look at me funny," Naruto replied. He then added, "And technically you already gave me a gift when you helped me save the pups."

***Flashback no Jutsu***

_Naruto was bored, usually when they wanted to take his blood for yet another one of their tests they'd just do it, but now they left him all alone in the lab just sitting there waiting for them. So he decided to go to the room they'd stepped into and see if he could listen in without getting caught, as they'd left the door slightly ajar._

_Getting close enough to listen in he heard the head doctor say, "This time we will be injecting #23's genes into a freshly seeded female hound, using the sperm of an Inuzuka hound to help chances of survival. As all animals we have attempted this on died from some complication or another before the fetuses had a chance to fully develop, this will be our last attempt one way or another. As soon as I finish preparing her, I will go get a fresh sample from #23 to use."_

_Backing away with wide eyes, Naruto quickly went back to the chair he was supposed to be sitting in and desperately mentally said "Kurama is there anything we can do," having given the fox access to his senses shortly after meeting him the fox heard exactly what Naruto did._

_Thinking for what seemed to be a very long time Kurama finally said, __**"There is one way kit, but it's highly risky and not guaranteed to work."**_

"_What is it,' Naruto asked._

"_**While taking your blood sample we inject as much of our chakra as possible into it and with our chakra mixed with the natural healing abilities of your blood it will likely save the pups, the mother will still die but the pups won't," **__Kurama said._

"_Okay, so the risks are that it won't be enough and that the head doctor might notice, though I doubt it as he isn't the least bit chakra sensitive, any others," Naruto asked._

"_**No, but there will be benefits, if the pups survive, they will have no more of our chakra left in their systems, as they will have used it all up to survive, but due to having our chakra in their systems while in the womb they will be smarter than even an Inuzuka hound, will live longer than even an Inuzuka hound, will quite possibly be stronger and faster than even an Inuzuka hound, and there might be other things we can't even imagine from it,"**__ Kurama replied._

_The head doctor stepped out of the room and approached Naruto with a needle in hand, making Naruto have to make a split second decision, "Let's do it," he thought, getting a grunt in the affirmative from Kurama, they did just that._

_Four months later it worked, with all expected results, and more, though they kept it all a secret of course, Naruto was happy he at least managed to save the pups, if not their mother._

***Flashback no Jutsu end***__

"**Anklet please,"** is all Kurama said in reply, feeling embarrassed Naruto said all that to him.

At which Naruto once again closed his eyes and focused. Soon enough the gate that held Kurama caged in his den turned into sparkly golden lights that swirled around Kurama's right fore-handpaw (?) and soon turned into a simple leather band that had the seal on it.

Walking out of the now gateless cave Kurama took a deep breath of forest air and said, **"Well it's not true freedom, but I'll take what I can get, thanks kit."**

"No problem, Kurama, if it weren't for your healing and advice over the years I'd be dead right now, it's too bad I can't start working on mastering your chakra yet. Not only is the seal still not loose enough for you to send much more than what was needed to heal me safely, there's also the fact that if I started using it before I at least hit puberty, it could cause permanent damage to my chakra coils," Naruto said in reply.

"**True kit, I'm glad I decided to give you that chance when you asked for my friendship when you showed up in front of me in a near-death state three years ago. You are the best host I could ask for, if I was asking for a host rather than true freedom anyway. You always ask rather than take, you believed me when I said I actually prefer peace over blood and death unless threatened, despite the fact I do hate humans in general, and that I never chose to attack your village either time, but was actually forced to by that damned Uchiha. You even changed my cage to be as comfortable as possible until you could let me out of it completely, showing your trust in me at the same time," **Kurama's voice sounded gruff, but Naruto could see all sorts of emotions swimming through his eyes, so all he did was nod in reply.

"**Alright then enough mushy stuff, now I start training you in the use of the new ability I'm about to give you, it will sting since I'll be sending some of my chakra into you to give it to you," **getting a nod in reply, Kurama pushed a small amount of his chakra into Naruto, who hissed out his breath in pain but otherwise seemed unaffected. After a couple of minutes it was over and Kurama said, **"So, let's begin, shall we?" **


End file.
